Head-mountable lighting devices are well known in the art. These devices may be mounted to a helmet, hat, visor, or other mounting surface via a mounting clip, or around a user's head via the use of a headstrap. One such example is the Enduro Head-Mounted Flashlight, manufactured by Streamlight, Inc. of Eagleville, Pa., U.S.A., which is the applicant of the present application.
Many known head-mountable and surface-mountable lighting devices include a ratcheting hinge that permits only a finite number of lighting device positions with respect to the mounting portion of the device. This is a potential hindrance to a user, since the user may not be able to achieve a desired position for the lighting device. In addition, many of these prior art hinges function to hold the lighting device in the desired position via pressure applied to the hinge by a fastener (e.g., a nut and bolt combination). These prior art hinges will tend to work themselves loose over time and eventually fail.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved articulating friction hinge for a mountable lighting device that overcomes these and other drawbacks of the prior art devices.